Welcome to the Art Studio at Coonley Elementary School in Chicago. This is a virtual space to share students' processes and accomplishments, and to highlight what mischief we are up to in the art room on a weekly basis.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Observational Drawing by 2nd grade

Students in grade 2 are learning to look closely at objects, and to draw what they see, in preparation for creating still life painting.

We talked about how the secret to drawing realistically from observation is looking very closely at all the ins and outs and bumps and lines, and also, drawing very slowly. Students were encouraged to move their pencil at the speed of an ant crawling along the object. They were also told to look up a whole lot more than they looked down. In most cases, the kids were really happy with the level of detail and realism in their drawings. They surprised themselves, and now they know the secret to drawing that adults seem to forget!